It’s all in Your Head - Prepare your Mind for your Trail Race
While running long distances, and possibly for everything else, there seems to be a distinct relationship between physical ability and mental focus. Even if you do all the right training, if your head isn't in it, it's over before you start.
I believe - What you think affects how you run, or as Henry Ford says, If you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right. So, to manage the energy in your body, you need to manage the energy in your head. Certainly there are many variables that determine how well you run. But, if the weather is right, your nutrition is dialed in, and you have done all the right training, then it comes down to the games you play on your mind's court.
At the start of a race, your thoughts are typically in high speed random strobe and your energy is too high to clearly focus on a single thought. The cumulative energy from the pack is so strong, you can feel it. It is best to find a place nearby to get outside this energy vacuum to relax by slowing down your mind and body. If you’re running a 100 yard dash, you could use this energy and channel it, but for long distance running, it makes no sense to get spun up right at the start. It won't last very long.
Early on during a long run, your legs and your mind both spin freely. But, after some time and a few miles... your thoughts slow to a speed that can be processed. Although the mind games began long before the race started... once you settle into a race, the mind games switch into overdrive.
If you feel good, you run better. And sometimes you can even talk yourself into running well even though you don't feel well. You can call it positive thinking, but I prefer to think of it as - Keeping the grump out. If you're grumping, then you're throwing away some good energy. Also, nobody likes being around a grump, so you're driving everybody else with good energy away. You have to refocus your thoughts on something that brings your mood and your energy back up. There are many ways to do this. I recall a friend who died young and how happy he'd be just to be able to walk, to breathe, to live. He reminds me that I have nothing to whine about. I tell myself to - Just shut up and run.
A few examples:
1) For those who go for the really long runs, you might be out there all day and through the night. The problem with this is that your body has a clock and its used to shutting down for sleep around a certain time. If you attempt to stay awake and keep running through your bedtime hours, your body will try to shut down regardless of where you are or what you are doing. You could be literally running in your sleep. You have to engage your mind. Stimulate your thinking with some sort of mental gymnastics. Anything that gets your mind spinning will help you to stay awake and keep your legs spinning. A perfect example was at the Arkansas 100mi where a very liberal friend of mine hooked up with a very conservative pacer for the night part of the race. As you would guess, they're opposing perspectives eventually became a heated debate that kept them both awake all night long. It was hard on my ears but good for them.
2) At another race, a turn was missed due to a mental lapse and when it was discovered, the return trip was much quicker and more animated because of the anger and disappointment in the time lost. It's not just your mind that spins up. Your legs will follow soon after. Once the mind is poked, the mental energy will transfer to your body, and I continued much faster after the recovery. So, the mishap had a benefit.
3) During the night, all alone in the dark, you discover a light well ahead in the direction you’re running, and you pick up your pace. For many different reasons, you come alive with energy created by your mind, and set off to catch the light... and then pass it. If this occurs more than once in succession, it begins to build on itself until you are literally sprinting down the trail. I have seen and done this many times.
Each and every reason you find to build your energy is an empowering experience. Your mind converts thought into energy. Just make sure its positive energy. If you are looking for an excuse to make yourself a victim, you will find hundreds of reasons to suit. So, don't look for excuses at all. Instead search for reasons to be optimistic. Plan for success — not failure.
Study the course and plan your race. It gives you power when you know what you need to do. Simply do what you planned. If you lay out an honest realistic plan, then it's do-able and you know it. Remove the doubts, excuses, and reasons to fail. Create intermediate goals that translate into achievements that become good mental energy. Sometimes, the race is too big to get your mind around it, so break it down into smaller pieces. And then break it into even smaller pieces. Each piece by itself is do-able, so set yourself up to achieve each of them ONE-AT-A-TIME. Each success creates good energy and that is how the whole race should be run.
—Joe Prusaitis